Reputation Flagging
On March 27, 2007, LorainCounty.com began a new experiment in the
Conversation Forums called 'Reputation Flagging'. Under this experiment,
users of LorainCounty.com have the ability to flag posts that they feel
abuse the Community Standards. When a post has been flagged enough times,
it will automatically be removed from the site.
History
When the Forums first began, there was no formal review policy and posts
were only reviewed and removed after users emailed or called.
After a few years, users helped create the Community Standards and
internally, every message was reviewed for compliance with the
Community Standards.
As the Forums continue to grow, it has become a challenge to keep up
with the internal review process.
- Sheer number of posts - sometimes as many as 500 messages in a single day.
- Diversity of Topics - with 52 different Forum Boards, we have no way of understanding all of the issues in all of the communities.
- Gray Area - it is easy to review and remove posts that are clearly abusive; but as the number of posts increased, so did the number that were in the gray area.
- No Way to Please Everyone - in fact, we often received emails from both sides of a topic asking why we were only removing their posts and not the opposition's posts.
Why Flagging
Simply put, we believe LorainCounty.com users are the best! Who better to
decide what is and is not appropriate than the users themselves?
Why Reputation Flagging
Reputation flagging is our experiment to ensure that regular users
control the Forums and to avoid undue influence from non-users and
abusers. We want to ensure that an open, robust conversation is
maintained. We want to ensure that all legitimate points of view are
heard and that one side does not 'remove' posts from an opposing viewpoint.
Flagging Summary
Whenever a LorainCounty.com user reads a post that abuses the Community
Standards, they have the ability to flag the post as 'mild abuse', 'abuse',
or 'flagrant abuse'. When a post receives enough flags, it is automatically
removed from the site. An email is automatically sent to the person who
wrote the post providing them an option to appeal the removal. If on
appeal, it is clearly obvious that the post should not have been removed,
it will be put back on the site. The identity of users who place flags
will always be held strictly confidential.
Reputation Flagging Summary
All LorainCounty.com users receive a reputation number that is increased
by their contributions to the Forums and decreased if they abuse the
Forums. Posts from users with a high reputation number must receive
more flags to be removed than posts from users with a low reputation
number. Additionally, a flag from a user with a high reputation number
holds more weight than a flag from a user with a low reputation number.
Feedback
As always, we are very interested in the thoughts and opinions of
LorainCounty.com users. If you have ideas for improving the system or
questions, please email them to EdSkimin@LorainCounty.com.
For a very detailed explanation of Reputation Flagging, click here.
Reputation Number
All registered LorainCounty.com users have a reputation number.
This number, 1 - 200, represents their current reputation on the
LorainCounty.com Forums.
Initial Reputation
When first registering, users receive an initial Reputation Number of 100.
Note: To acknowledge the contribution of users who began using the site
prior to the March 27, 2007 launch of Reputation Flagging, we used the
following formula to calculate their initial reputation:
100
+ (1 point for every 9 posts added to LorainCounty.com)
- (1 point for every 1.67 posts removed from LorainCounty.com)
Reputation Increases
A user's reputation is increased by providing content, receiving useful
points and flagging abusive posts. The following formula is used:
+ .25 for every message posted
+ 1 for every post which receives 4 or more useful clicks
+ 1 for every post the member flagged that was removed from the site
Reputation Decreases
A user's reputation is decreased by submitting abusive posts and
flagging posts that are not abusive. The following formula is used:
- 10 for every post flagged off by other users, unless an appeal is upheld
- 4 for improperly using a mild abuse flag on a post
- 12 for improperly using an abuse flag on a post
- 20 for improperly using a flagrant abuse flag on a post
Note: to be considered an 'improper use' of a flag, it will need to be
very clear that a user intentionally flagging posts in an abusive manner.
It is our policy to trust users flagging decisions unless it is clear
that they are collaborating to unfairly block legitimate voices in
the community.
Flags
Every user has the option of placing an abuse flag on every post that
they feel abuses the Community Standards. The higher the flagger's
reputation, the higher the weight of their flags. Following is the
current formula for calculating flag points:
Mild Abuse 0.25 X Flagger's Reputation
Abuse 0.50 X Flagger's Reputation
Flagrant Abuse 1.00 X Flagger's Reputation
If a user flags as a guest (i.e. without logging in) they receive a default reputation of 50.
Removing Posts
When enough flags are received, a post is automatically removed from
LorainCounty.com. Posts from users with a high reputation number must
receive more flags to be removed than posts from users with a low
reputation number.
To be removed, a post must receive flag points equal to or greater
than 2.1 times the poster's reputation number.
Example 1
A post from a user with a Reputation Number of 150 must receive 315 Flag points to be removed.
Flagger's
Reputation |
Flag
Given |
Flag
Points |
Total Flag
Points |
| 100 |
Abuse |
50 |
50 |
| 150 |
Abuse |
75 |
125 |
| 140 |
Abuse |
70 |
195 |
| 110 |
Flagrant Abuse |
110 |
305 |
| 120 |
Abuse |
60 |
365* |
| *Post automatically removed |
Example 2
A post from a user with a Reputation Number of 90 must receive 189 Flag points to be removed.
Flagger's
Reputation |
Flag
Given |
Flag
Points |
Total Flag
Points |
| 100 |
Abuse |
50 |
50 |
| 150 |
Abuse |
75 |
125 |
| 140 |
Abuse |
70 |
195* |
| *Post automatically removed |
Appeal Process
When a post is flagged off, an email is automatically sent to the
user who posted the message. If this person believes that 1) their
post did not abuse the community standards AND 2) their fellow
LorainCounty.com users unfairly flagged it off, they can appeal by
completing on online appeal form.
When an appeal is received, a small group of LorainCounty.com team
members will review the post and the flags received. We will lean
towards trusting the flagging decisions of users and an appeal will
only be upheld if it is obvious that other users are abusing the
flagging system to remove legitimate posts.
Report Abuse
We will keep the red 'Report Abuse' link on every post. If a post
poses an immediate issue, users can report the post rather than just
flag it. A small group of LorainCounty.com team members will review
abuse reports and remove posts only if there is an immediate and
immanent issue. Otherwise, we will allow the normal flagging process
to be used to remove the post.
Feedback
As always, we are very interested in the thoughts and opinions of
LorainCounty.com users. If you have ideas for improving the system or
questions, please email them to EdSkimin@LorainCounty.com.
